Shaft mounting for rolls or the like



Feb. 13, v1940. c. 1.. TAYLOR vSHAFT MOUNTING FOR ROLLS OR THE LIKE Filed March 1, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGJ.

R R U m 0 L E M Y m m m m m L A Feb. 13, 1940. c. L. TAYLOR 2,190,371

SHAFT MOUNTING FOR ROLLS OR THE LIKE Filed March 1, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. CLARENCE LTAYLUR.

BY m i ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 13, 1940 Clarence L. Taylor, Youngstown, Ohio, assignor toThe Aetna StandardEngineering Company,

Youngstown, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application March 1.193s,v Serial No. 193,322

' 1" Claim. 01. 287 -5201) This invention relates to mechanism for mounting driven members on rotatable shafts and more particularly to roll supporting mechanism for edging mills or the like.

In rolling steel billets to produce-bars; plates,

sheets, etc., vertical edging mills are employed which comprise pairs of rolls mounted on v'erti cal shafts, the rollsand shafts being so supported that theymay be adjusted toward or away fromeach other to vary the width of the roll pass I formed therebetween. In large mills the roll pressure is very high, running up to 300,000 pounds or more and a serious problem is presented in maintaining the fit of the rolls on the shafts to prevent play between the rolls and shafts and thus to insure the accuracy'of the rolling operation. It is desirable to have the rolls so mounted on the shafts that they may be readily removed when it is necessary to change rolls and also desirable to have the rolls so mounted that they will always be disposed in the same axial position on the shaft. An ordinary tapered shaft with a correspondingly tapered bore in the roll and means for forcing the roll onto the shaft will permit of the necessary tight fit or engagement of the roll with the shaft. However, such an arrangement makes it difficult to determine with accuracy the axial position of the roll ,on thehshaft and any wear or variation in diameter, either of the shaft orvthe bore of the roll, will result in a shifting of the axial position of the rollwhen seated on the shaft;

It is among the objects of the present-invention to provide an improved mounting for menbers which are to be tightly but removably secured to a shaft and particularly for rolling mill rolls in which the rolls may be located in a definite axial position on the shaft, may be restrained from any play 'or-looseness-relative to the shaft, and are so mounted that they may readily and easily be removed and replaced. Other objects of my invention are "the provision of a simple and effective means for maintaining rolls, pulleys, wheels or the like tightly mounted on their shafts in which the advantages of a tapered fit are obtained without the usual accompanying difficulty in locating the roll axially on the shaft; the provision of a self adjusting means for causing a tight fit between a roll and its driving shaft which will operate effectively regardless of reasonable variations in shaft diameter and/or roll bore diameter; the provision of a roll mounting which permits of a keyed connection to the shaft and assures that all rolls will have the same axial location on theshaft; and the provision of a veryfeffective roll mounting which permits of instant removal of the roll with accompanying removal of a minimum of the parts of the mounting and which has long life and is particularly effectivefor mounting the rolls of heavy duty vertical edging mills.

will be seen from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, in which-- I Figure 1 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view. of aroll shaft and roll equipped with my improved roll mounting. Figure'2 is a plan view of my improved resilient taperedv bushing.

- Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 3- 3jof Figure 2.'

Figure 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken on line 44 of Figure 2.

, I Figure 5- isa horizontal cross-sectional taken on line -55 of Figure 1. I

. Figure 6is an enlarged fragmentary section il- .lust rating the wing ,nut locking means.-

' In'Figure 1 an edging roll 2 having a view bottom flange' 2a. is mountedon a vertical shaft 4 which may be driven by anysuitablemeans such as the gears 9 and II which are supported in the housing 6. A work support 25 is mounted adjacent to and having its upper surface substantially in alignment with the upper surface of the flange 2a.. My improved mounting for the roll 2 provides means for, at all times, maintaining the top surface of the flange 2a inthe same position relative to the top surface of the work support 25, and thus wear of the shaft or of the bushing parts; or changes of rolls, does not interfere with maintaining the proper position of the roll 2 relative to other parts of the structure in which itisused l As is best seen in Figures 1 and 5, the roll 2 has a cylindrical bore26 and is provided with diametricallyopposite keyways 21 and 28. A flat driving key 29 extends through a slot 30, which passes through the tapered portion 3| of the shaft 4, and extends into the keyways 21 "and 28 in the roll 2. The bottom surface of the roll 2 engages the top surface of a'iiange 32 which extends outwardly from the base of the tapered portion 3| of the shaft 4f It will be seen that the bore 26 of the roll 2'is considerably larger than the tapered portion 3| of the shaft but that the flange 32 extends out beyond the bore in the roll, thus providing a definite means for locating the roll axially on the shaft 4. In order to'maintai'nfl the roll concentricwith The above and other objects of my invention and free from any play or movement relative to the shaft, I provide a resilient tapered wedge bushing member which I have generally indicated at 33. This bushing has a cylindrical outer surface 34 which is adapted to engage the bore 26 of the roll 2 and a tapered inner surface 35 which is adapted to engage the tapered portion 31 of the shaft l. This-bushing also has diametrically opposed slots 36 and 31. which extend upwardly from the bottom or thin end thereof and which fit over the key 29. In order to provide the necessary circumferential resiliency in. the

tapered bushing 33 I preferably cut a plurality;-v

of slots 38 which extend downwardly from the top or thick end of the bushing. but stop'short' of the bottom end thereof and a plurality of slots 39 which extend upwardly from the bottom or" thin end of the bushing and stop short of the. top thereof. These slots are alternately arranged as is clearly seen in Figures 2 and 3 andpermit of a degree of radial expansion and contraction of the bushing 33. Threads G0 are formed on the upper end of the bushing 33, the diameter of the upper portion of the bushing being reduced so that the outside diameter of'thethreads is less than the outside diameter of the cylindrical wall 34 of the bushing. V

The assembly of the roll on the shaft is seen in Figure l. The key 29 isjfirst inserted in the slot 3!) and the roll 2 placed over the shaft with the key 29 engaging the keyways 2i and 28. The bottom surface of the roll Zehgages the fiange 32 on the shaft t, thus definitely fixing the axial position of the roll on the shaft. ,The resilient tapered bushing 33 is then placed inth'e' clearance space between the cylindrical bore of ,the roll 2 and the tapered portion 35 of the .shaft'4. An annular thrust washer ii, of smaller diam eter than the threaded portion of the bushing, engages the top of the bushing and isinf turn engaged by the wing nut member 62 which has threaded engagement with the upper end 43 of the shaft 4. By screwing down the wing nut 32 pressure is exerted against the top of the bushing 33 and such pressure will cause the tapered bushing 33 to slidedown on the tapered end 3|, of the shaft until it is driven home forming a completely tight and concentric wedge member to retain the. roll 2 abolutely free from 'any' play relative to the shaft 4. A bushing removing nut a l has threaded engagement with the threads 40 on the upper end of the bushing 35. While the screw i2 is being tightened down and the bushing is being seated this nut 64 is backed off so that it will not engage the top surface of the roll 2. When it is desired to remove the roll 2 it is only'necessary to screw down the nut M until its bottom surface engages the top of the roll 2. By turning the nut 44 further the tapered wedge bushing will be lifted from its seated position, it being understood that the nut 22 has first been backed off, thus loosening the mounting of the roll 2 on the shaft 4. By then'unscrewing the nut M completely from the bushing 33 the. roll 2 can be lifted completely off from the shaft. This is possible because the bore 26 in the roll 2 is larger than the threaded upper end 48 of the bushing 33, the thrust washer 4|, and the wing nut 42. v f

It will be seen that my resilient tapered wedge; bushing may expand and contract radially and, as its lower or thin end will never seat against the flange 32 of the shaft d (see Fig. 1), it will always be effective to form a tight connection of the roll to the shaft. By slotting the bushing 33, as shown at 35 and 37 it may be slipped into place over the driving key 29. i the top of the bushing are of such'a pitchv as to provide the necessary mechanical advantage topermit easy withdrawal of the wedge bushing The,

even after it has been tightly seated.

The square threads 40 on threads 40 and the co-acti'ng threads-on the nut i i are cut to provide rela'tively'great clearance at the root of the threads so that when'the bushing 33 isbeing seated andis caused to expand in diameter by being forced down on the tapered portion 3| of the shaft, such expansion can occur I freely and without restriction of the upper end.

of the bushing by the encircling nut Ml;

' It will be seen from the above description of a provided a flexible, annular wedge member which 3 preferred formiof my roll mounting that I have 'may be driven into position between a roll and the roll shaft while permitting a keyed driving,

.connection between the roll and the roll shaft. 20

My wedge is sufficiently resilient to accommodate variationsin shaft and roll bore diameter and permits tight fitting. of the roll to the shaft and.

maintenance of the desired axial, position of the roll on the shaft. My improved constructionfurther permits of extremely easy and simple re--;

moval of the roll from the shaft by removing only the wedge lifting nut' i i from its engagementv with the top of the wedge.

The wedge bushing 53, the key 29, the washer d! and the nut 42 may allremain in position on the shaft while the roll, 2

isremoved and changed or replaced.

In Figure 6 ;I have illustrated a modified fibrin v of'wing nut 32 in which means are provided to prevent accidental, loosening of this wing nut on 35 the threaded end 43 of the shaft i. A plate 58* is secured within the hollow body of the wing nut 42 bymeans of a screw 5?.- On the opposite side of. the plate $6 from the screw 4! 'a threaded 4(2- aperture is provided for the locking screw. 58.

Thetop .of the wing nut t2 is drilled as seenat it to permit. the threaded screw 68 to pass freely therethrough. After the assembly, illustrated in Figure 1, has been completed and the tapered bushing firmly seated, the screw this turned 2 down until the cupped end 59 engages the top- .of'

the end 43 of the shaft :3. This tends to draw the threads of the wing nut 42 upwardlyinto firm engagement with thethreads on the end of the shaft and the frictional "engagement of the cupped'end of the screw ddwith the top of the shaft'effectively prevents relative 'rotati'on and loosening which might otherwise occur due to vibration of the apparatus when in operation.

Although I have described in considerable deto the specific embodiment herein shown and described but'claim as my invention all embodiments thereof coming within the scope of the appended claim.

Iclaim: '1 In apparatus of the type described, a shaft having a tapered portion and a threaded portion, a member to be mounted on the shaft, said member having a bore larger thanthe tapered portion I of said shaft, a resilient tapered wedge bushing having its outer surface adapted to conform to and engage with the bore in the member to be adapted to move said resilient bushin ginto engagement with both the tapered surface of the shaft and the bore of the member to be mounted on the shaft, said resilient tapered bushing having threads at one end of greater diameter than said threaded means, a nut threaded toen'gage said threads on said bushing and adapted to bear against the member to be mounted on the shaft to release the wedge engagement of said bushing with said shaft and member, and a key extending through a slot in said shaft and engaging said member to be mounted on said shaft at two diametrically'opposed points, said wedge bushing having diametrically opposed slots extending inwardly from its thin end whereby said wedge bushing maybe moved into and out of positionlo .While retaining said key in position in said shaft.

CLARENCE L. TAYLOR. 

